The University of Oxford's Internet Institute has discovered that there are places in the United States where there are more people googling for zombies and satan than for Santa Claus. They have found some interesting patterns:

a few pockets including just outside the San Francisco Bay and Seattle and the cities Houston, Dallas and Austin in Texas have a lot of zombie angst. Hmmm…it might be the only things these places are in agreement on. But one of the more interesting clusters runs from Tampa to Orlando Florida….home of Disney World. Sort of makes sense in a way. Also of interest is a thin band of zombies stretched out along the Eastern seaboard, west of most of the major metropolitan areas.

I confess I'm fascinated and surprised by the results. I can't imagine the reason why millions are searching for zombies and satan during the holidays. What's going on?

The only part that doesn't surprises me: "both Texas and Florida Satan clusters are bigger than the Zombie clusters observed earlier." I lived in Miami for three years. I understand. [Floating Sheep via Guardian]